Dreaming of being mortgage free, how old were you when you paid yours off?

[Smarshian]

We are early thirties with 2 pre school DC in nursery 4 days per week. I’ve just taken a better paying job which will hopefully lead to more progression moving forwards.
We have 32 years to pay on our £230k mortgage and it just seems so daunting! We haven’t been able to overpay as we are pretty stretched with nursery fees but now I’ve got this new job that should hopefully change.
When did you pay yours off? How did it feel?

[noideaatallreally]

42. I was lucky to have a mortgage provider that allowed unlimited overpayment with no charges. When I started to get pay rises we upped the mortgage repayments. It has allowed me to leave a job that was making me ill at the age of 51. Currently 'retired' but will probably work part time in the new year (if I can find something.)
    
    I could not have done this without having paid off the mortgage - so grateful we invested there rather than buying nicer cars or going on more expensive holidays.

[thegcatsmother]

Last year. I was 53, and dh was 58. We had mortgaged within the term of the mortgage, but chose in 2006 to switch to repayment and shorten the term to 15 years. We paid it off 3.5 years early. At the end we were putting an extra £1.5 k minimum a month to get it down faster.

[thegcatsmother]

Remortgaged within the term of the mortgage, that was meant to say, and borrowed more.

[Whatisgoingdown]

Aiming for 50 here.
I've found the money saving expert overpayment calculator very helpful at keeping me motivated, even the smallest amount can make a big difference

www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/mortgage-overpayment-calculator/

[Supertree]

Bought it outright when I was 27. We are low earners and couldn’t even get a mortgage before that, so had only ever rented. Was only because my lovely mother in law died way too young and left a decent amount of money. We also have fairly low housing costs in our part of the country.

I don’t want to stay here forever but I hate the thought of a mortgage. Would possibly save up and try to buy another outright or have a very small mortgage. It’ll depend on our financial situation at that time, I suppose.

We lived off savings for six months this year and it was such a relief to know we couldn’t lose our house.

[Browniegal13]

37, my husband had terminal cancer and the insurance paid out. It was a relief to him that me and our children would always have a home, but I never wanted it to happen like that x

[dingdang]

I have one year left in this house then will sell and should have enough equity to buy outright or with a small mortgage next year. Relating from London to Glasgow so we shall see how it all pans out. If all goes to plan, mortgage free at 45 or 50 if I need a small mortgage...

[Tappering]

Another 22 years left to run on ours. We had to start again as our first property was bought in 2006 pre-crash and never recovered - so we had to pay back the negative equity and save a new deposit.

However we overpay by £250 a month and we've kept this up even though DH was made redundant at the start of lockdown, although it's been tight. On track to clear it in 16 years when I'll be 57, but hoping to increase the overpayments once DH is back in work. I'd love to be able to get it paid off ASAP.

[CountFosco]

We won't pay ours off till mid 60s if we don't make any overpayments (we probably will at some point). Our last 3 bed detached house we would have paid off by 52 but we bought a bigger house in our mid 40s, we have 3DC and wanted more space. Thank goodness we did, the idea of us all stuck in our last house trying to work and do schoolwork during lockdown would have been awful. A mortgage is a very cheap loan to buy an asset that keeps its value, I don't think there's any great virtue associated with prioritising paying off a mortgage vs any other type of investment.

[selfcare]

Got my mortgage at age of 40. At the mo it runs to age 69. Have lots of equity and plan to borrow next year to get jobs done on house. What is the point of owning outright nowadays other than to hopefully afford care home fees in our twilight years?

[WhenSheWasBad]

We took out our mortgage 9 years ago (£189,000 for 25 years). We’ve made pretty decent overpayments and should have paid the whole thing off in 3 years (I’ll be early 40s).
I’m really looking forward to it. I’m imagining it will be quite freeing.

[Lightsabre]

Agree with @Scrouge - look long term and think hard about your pension first rather than overpaying (although over paying is good). Next priority should be six months expenses in an emergency fund then overpayments.

Inflation will wear down your mortgage payments over time.

[MrsKramer]

I've never got MN's obsession with paying off mortgages early. Property's a great investment, and one that benefits the whole family. We have 20 years to go on the mortgage, but if we could pay it now, we'd just get another one and buy somewhere more expensive!

[barberousbarbara]

I was due to pay it off when I was 59 but was overpaying to pay it off sooner than that. In the end I had a critical illness payout and the mortgage was cleared when I was 43.

[planningaheadtoday]

46. But had many mortgages and paid them off then took out more over the years.
    46 was the age I decided not to have another one.

[Whatisgoingdown]

@MrsKramer @selfcare the point of paying it off saves an enormous amount in interest plus the security of owning outright means if I were to be made redundant or no longer want to work full time in a stressful job I don't have to. It's a no-brainer imo

[MyPersona]

@MrsKramer

I've never got MN's obsession with paying off mortgages early. Property's a great investment, and one that benefits the whole family. We have 20 years to go on the mortgage, but if we could pay it now, we'd just get another one and buy somewhere more expensive!

The thing is that in reality most people pay off their mortgage in their fifties unless they have an inheritance or something and it’s probably quite easy to google that information. Most responders on this thread have only come on to boast that they have paid theirs off earlier and in many cases it won’t even be true. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[noideaatallreally]

I didn't come on to boast - I came on to answer the OP!!! In answer to the question how did it feel? Bloody amazing when I handed in my resignation knowing that reason I could afford to do so was that my monthly bills were far lower without having to pay rent or mortgage. Not a boast, and not everyone wants to/ is able to be able to pay off early, but I am really glad I did.

[neonjumper]

@MrsKramer

I've never got MN's obsession with paying off mortgages early. Property's a great investment, and one that benefits the whole family. We have 20 years to go on the mortgage, but if we could pay it now, we'd just get another one and buy somewhere more expensive!

I'm sure many of us have already done that . I'm on my third house and we will downsize once our children are established .

Our money is now going into our pensions .

[AuldFox]

We went up the housing ladder very quickly when it was still possible to do so and have now been mortgage free for many years. Large detached in London so we aren’t moving up the ladder anymore. Great feeling of security.

[AuldFox]

Extra money is now invested and spent for fun!

[CountFosco]

What I’ve always done is kept my lifestyle the same and then just overpaid the mortgage the extra.

This is very unusual, most people's lifestyle changes multiple times after they buy a house. Since we bought our first house we have had 3DC. So 3 lots of maternity leave = 50% drop in income and living off savings for several months. Then DH and I both going PT = 20% drop in income for several years. Plus paying for childcare which was higher than our mortgage. We have a good income and didn't overstretch ourselves with the mortgage (live in the NE so property is cheaper) so we could cope with these lifestyle changes. Eventually DH got a local job and so his season ticket money was used to overpay the mortgage so we made a big dent in it but we then bought a bigger house so the overpayments became payments. I think it's sensible to do overpayments when you can to build in some slack for the periods of life that you can't but not everyone can manage that. And not every mortgage allows that flexibility.

[MrsKramer]

[quote Whatisgoingdown]**@MrsKramer* @selfcare* the point of paying it off saves an enormous amount in interest plus the security of owning outright means if I were to be made redundant or no longer want to work full time in a stressful job I don't have to. It's a no-brainer imo [/quote]
Saying it's a "no brainer" to pay off your mortgage early is, frankly, terrible financial advice.

A mortgage is a cheap way to borrow money, to buy an asset you get to enjoy, and which is likely to outperform any other asset class.

[MyPersona]

@noideaatallreally

I didn't come on to boast - I came on to answer the OP!!! In answer to the question how did it feel? Bloody amazing when I handed in my resignation knowing that reason I could afford to do so was that my monthly bills were far lower without having to pay rent or mortgage. Not a boast, and not everyone wants to/ is able to be able to pay off early, but I am really glad I did.

I’m sure you did but it’s a fact that the proportion of early payers on this thread doesn’t reflect real life. Most people in their 30s are more concerned about getting on the ladder than paying off the mortgage.

I was mortgage free at 50 and I’m pleased and proud that my kids are paying mortgages rather than extortionate rents. I expect that without inheritance they’ll be in a similar position to me.

[MrDarcysMa]

We'd both be 61. BUT some things will change that:

1. Starting to overpay once we've paid off some home improvements.
2. Likely move to a cheaper area eventually.
3. Not a nice thought, but a bit of family inheritance which will sadly almost certainly be with us before then, and would make a dent in it.